Google launches campaign to increase Arabic web content

Google has announced a new initiative to increase the amount of Arabic content online. Arabic content makes up just three per cent of the total digital content online, yet Arabic speakers make up more than five per cent of the global population.

Google’s 30 day Arabic Web Days initiative in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) focuses on boosting the amount of Arabic content online. Google has secured the support of numerous partners including Vinelab, Wamda, Yamli and Taghreedat, as well as Twitter, Wikipedia, TED, Soundcloud, and regional organizations Al Arabiya, TwoFour54 and Qatar Foundation’s Qatari Computing Research Institute.

This is a great initiative as when I’m doing PR and social media training in the Middle East I meet some fantastic local PR and corporate communications professionals. I believe it’s not just about creating more Arabic content, but also doing more to promote some of the great content that already exists.

It has also created a YouTube video (Arabic only of course!):

Arabic Web Days was announced in a blog post by Maha Abouelenein, Google’s head of communications for the Middle East and North Africa:

Participate in a series of Hangouts on Google+ to get tips and tricks from industry experts on contributing Arabic content to the web—through online journalism, YouTube videos, Wikipedia editing, translation of English content, SEO and more

Join the YouTube Tweet Up in Doha, Qatar on December 15 to learn how to create viral Arabic videos and make money through YouTube

Participate in the region’s first Arabic infographics competition with Tajseed

Volunteer to be part of a TED initiative to create quality Arabic digital content via Arabic subtitling during a kick-off event with TED, twofour54 and Taghreedat in Abu Dhabi on December 4

Sign up for developer training at g|days in Jordan on December 5-6 and Egypt on December 9-10 to learn about Arabic localization, webmaster tools, SEO and YouTube for Business

Learn about the Egyptian Ministry of Education’s educational channels on YouTube which include different curricula from first to twelfth grade, as well as e-Lessons via video and Google+ Hangouts.